Parent Class Representatives

Launching Place Primary encourages the active involvement of parents and guardians in the functioning of the school through the Parent Class Representative Program. The Parent Class Representative (hereafter referred to as class rep) provides an important line of communication between the classroom teacher and parents.

It is desirable for class Foundation to Year 6 to have at least one Parent Representative. The role is voluntary, has no formal structures and is not meant to be an arduous task.

Time commitment

Class reps do not have to carry the entire load. Their role is to encourage all parents to get involved. 

The Class Representative role involves:

• Supporting the class teacher when and if required.
• Providing administrative support through co-ordination, facilitation and communication to the class parent group.
• Where requested by teachers, organising parent helpers for class activities and programs like swimming, reading, sports events etc.
• Encouraging and supporting the members of the class group to get involved in school community activities and events.
• Welcoming new families to the class and arranging appropriate introductions with other parents of the class.

Class Representative Co-ordinators manage the Class Representative program which includes:

• Co-ordinating and supporting Class Representatives throughout the year.
• Organise a meeting at the start of each semester, when various activities and fundraising will be discussed. Chairing Class Representative meetings. The meetings provide the opportunity to discuss any issues relating to the role of the Class Representative and to share information about upcoming school events and class/year level activities.

How To Become A Class Representative

A call for expressions of interest in a Class Representative role is sent out at the end of the year (in preparation for the year ahead) and again at the beginning of the year. Parents may also be invited by their class teacher – please do not approach teachers directly regarding this role. Class Reps (usually two) are selected by the Class Teacher in the first week or two of Term 1.

Guidelines for email communications

Please note that all group email communications particularly between class reps and the parents on the class contact list must be as follows:

• Class Teacher to be "cc" into all emails
• The email must be sent ‘TO’ yourself (your email address)
• The parents’ contact email addresses must be put in the ‘BCC’ section (ie: “blind CC”).

This is to help maintain parents’ privacy, and ensure that parents on the contact list do not receive any emails other than those supported by the school. Also, if any parents ‘reply’ to you, the only person that will receive the reply is you.

As parents often receive many communications from the school, please keep your emails succinct but friendly and positive in tone. Please keep group emails within your class for information dissemination only and do not allow them to become a forum for debate.

Extra things you can do

• Have regular informal chats with the teacher to show continued support.
• Pass on to the Class Rep Co ordinator if parents have fundraising ideas
• Keep your ear to the ground and mention to the teacher anything “moving” in the parent body that teachers might wish to know about; both positive and negative. This is an attempt to pre-empt thoughts before they become issues.
• Collect contributions and organise a group “end of year thank you” gift for the classroom teacher (optional).